The story of The Raptor
by MediocreApathy
Summary: Once feared as the boogeyman of triad members, Shen gave up his assassin lifestyle after a contract went wrong, instead becoming a beat cop to do things by the book. Just when his life is starting to look up, his past catches up with him. Focuses on everyday living in Republic City, from the point of view of someone with a troubled past. Contains slight mature content. OCs. HIATUS
1. In the past

Authors Note: Fixed a few typos, next chapter should be out today or tomorrow.

o0o

It was a good night for this job. Not too cold, not too warm. Slight wind, clouded sky. Shen strode into the alley, long grey cloak blowing around him. Peering into the open street to make sure no one was there, he pulled on his mask. A simple mask really. The only especially remarkable thing about it was that it was fashioned out of pure silver, into the style of a plague doctor, with a long beaked nose. The edge of the right eye pointed down, the left pointed up. As he put on the mask, he was no longer Shen, average citizen of Republic city. When the mask went on, he became the Sterling Raptor. Or just the Raptor as he was better known. While the everyday citizen of Republic city had nothing to fear from him, as well as "good" guys, he was a triad member's nightmare. Not a vigilante per say, more an assassin. An assassin of the people. He was who the detectives went to when they couldn't bust a triad leader. When the triad leaders were too bad to be put in prison. They didn't know who he was, and they didn't care so long as the job got done, with the target as the only fatality. He never said a word, they never saw beneath his mask, only sapphire eyes staring back at him. If a target was acceptable, he would nod his head, and exit the room. He would do the job, and pick up payment at the pre disclosed dead drop location. Easy, simple, effective. Tonight's target would be easy enough, Tokran "the Typhoon", head of the Red Monsoon triad. Charges: murder, rape, grand larceny, unlawful use of bending, littering, and generally being the type of person who didn't deserve to live. His sentence: death, outside the law. Shen would make sure the sentence was carried out.

After having secured his mask, Shen stepped out into the empty street once more, pulling up the hood and face cover of his cloak. He brushed the inside of the cloak with a steel clad hand, greeted by the familiar feeling of the many metal feathers layered inside of it. Standing beneath one of the taller apartment complexes in the area, Shen sent a grappling cable up to the top of the service ladder leading to the roof, pulling himself up with his metal bending. Walking to the other side of the roof, he looked around for the building his target was hiding in. It wasn't hard, as Tokran wasn't exactly hiding. The red monsoons were hold up in their leaders mansion, thinking they were safe, and throwing a party no less, having paid off the police. Little did they know, the bribe money went towards Shen's pay. And Shen also wasn't the police. Stepping to the edge of the roof, Shen readied himself for the rush of what was to come. This feeling never got old. He straightened his arms, and his cloak split into two at double overlapping velcro seams each just off center, the feathers inside bristled and stiffened holding tight against his arms. With a stomp of his foot, the same happened to the feathers inside the tails of the trench coat he wore beneath the cloak, forming a shape similar to an eagle's tail feathers. Spreading his arms to either side, Shen jumped off the building. His metal wings provided enough stabilisation in the air to keep him from falling, and with his metal bending, they could be flapped a few times per flight to provide minor lift. Shen soared towards the Red Monsoon mansion on his steel wings, landing in a roll just a quarter of a block away. As he walked towards the building, he observed where the guards were stationed. One at the main gate, that was just sloppy. Other sentries stood watch on the balconies, but they didn't seem very attentive, more focussed on the party that was going on in the mansion behind them. With the astonishing lack of security, and his advantage of metal beats water, the leader of the Red Monsoons would feel the Raptor's claws without much trouble.

"Hey pal, this ain't no masquerade, Red Monsoons only. So scram." Was the greeting the gate guard gave Shen as he approached the mansion. Shen continued forward. "Buddy, I'm not warning you again, scram. Or you'll regret it." With the second warning, the triad member summoned a large shard of ice from his waterskin, ready to skewer Shen with it, but Shen continued forward still, in eery silence. "You asked for it freak"

As the triad member launched the ice, Shen rushed forward, batting the projectile aside with a steel wing. "Shit, the Falc-" was all the guard got out before Shen's steel clad fist connected with the side of his head, sending him into unmoving dreams for the night. The briefing he had been given before his first contract flashed into Shen's mind.

"No fatalities besides the target, unless absolutely necessary. Understood merc?" The director of the contract was greeted with the silent nodding of Shen's head.

Moving back into the present, Shen hurriedly dragged the guard into an alleyway, out of sight. Coming back to the gate, Shen plucked a feather out of his cloak, and bent down to examine the lock. Bending the feather into two pieces; one into a tension wrench, the other into a pick, he knelt down to observe the lock. Platinum, to be expected, which is why he had fashioned the lock picking tools. Positioning the tension wrench, he inserted the pick and felt around. Three, four pins max, no mushroom pins, maybe one security pin. This wouldn't give a skilled locksmith like Shen any trouble. After a minute or so of fiddling, the padlock popped open with a satisfying click, and Shen quietly undid the chain keeping the fence closed. Moving in the shadow of the gate and towards the main building, Shen stealthily made his way to the side of the building, where fewer sentries were posted. Grappling up to a high level balcony, Shen gave the guard posted there the same fate as his friend from the gate, and hid him behind the balcony curtains. Shen looked around and noticed that he seemed to be on the private level of the mansion. Good. Triad leaders often retreated to their bedchambers to do less... Savory things at these sorts of parties. Shen walked down the hallway, towards a door at the end. The lights in the room were on, and shadows could be seen underneath. Creeping up to the door, Shen pressed his ear to it.

"I'll show you just how big of a monsoon I can make babe" cam the sleezy voice of Tokran. The only reply was. The whimper of another voice, assumably a woman, was the only reply.

As much as Shen didn't like it, his target was occupied it seemed. He had an element stronger than earth and metal on his side: surprise. Throwing the door open, Shen was greeted by the distinct smell of strong alcohol, and cigarette smoke, and was greeted by the sight of Tokran pinning a half undressed woman against the far wall. Shen sent a feather flying into the wall next to Tokran's head. Shen always gave his main target somewhat of a chance. Before he ended them. The woman screamed in shock, and Tokran whirled around, dropping her in surprise.

"Shit! B-but I payed of the polishe!" Tokran slurred at Shen, summoning a drunken water whip from his canteen.

"I'm not the police," Shen scoffed at his target, taking care to disguise his voice, disrupting the water with a wing as he strode forward, "I am your worst nightmare, I am the Falcon." By now, Shen was at arms reach of the terrified and drunken triad leader. Slowly, Shen pulled another feather from his cloak, bending it into a point at the end. He sent it flying, aimed between the sleezy triad member's eyes. Just before it made contact,

"B-B-BRRRRRRRIIIINNG!"

Shen sat straight up in his bed, fumbling for the alarm clock on his night stand. "I hate those dreams." Shen thought, still waking up. "I gave that life up. I do things the right way now" glancing. At the clock again, he read it. 6:30, Shen was proud of himself getting up on his first alarm today. He'd have time to actually eat and groom himself before work today. And he was glad. "It's not everyday you celebrate half a year of bein' a cop", his coworkers had told him. He was looking forward to the coupon for Narook's Seaweed Noodlery, as was a customary gag gift for beat cops to receive on their half a year, for sure. What he was looking forward to more was what Beifong had told him at the end of his last shift.

"Detective branch has an opening kid, and you have a spark. Com by my office before your next shift on your half a year. Maybe we can get somethin' more than a noodle coupon, hm?"

If Shen had learned something in his half a year of being a beat cop, it was that the chief didn't joke, especially about business matters. Shen was glad. He was doing things by the book now, helping people as the law permitted. He couldn't go back his other life. Not after his final contract.

Pushing thoughts of the past out of his head, Shen hopped into his faulty shower to wash up. After drying off, he dressed in his uniform, securing his silver wrist guards. His own personal effects. He insisted, what use was being a metal bender not on the elite team otherwise? He liked to have some metal constantly on him. His supervisor was cool with it, and it helped him do his job. After remembering his apartments hot plate was busted, he looked around the long rotted cabbage and other assorted spoiled foods for some komodo chicken he brought home a few days ago. It was still good, probably. And it didn't need to be warmed up. Maybe if he got a promotion, he could afford a better apartment, and food that didn't taste so bad it's only purpose was to spoil in his refrigerator. That would be nice. Gulping down the last of his food, Shen straightened his hair, and headed out the door for the station. Things were looking up for once.

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Authors note: hello people! Hope you enjoyed that. This story by no means means that my other story, As the Hourglass Turns: Book 1, Ignition, is abandoned. I just feel like it's good to get my other ideas out as well, and space things out a bit, and it helps my creative process. Also, I've had the premise for this story for a while too. Be sure to review, and follow if you liked it. As always, have a great day people!


	2. What the Future Holds

Shen walked a few blocks to the train station, making sure to hurry as to not miss his ride to work. As he walked, he made a mental note to find an apartment closer to the station as well as a higher quality one. The train was crowded, as it always was, but especially so as more and more people were helping rebuild the city from Kuvira's attack. He was glad he already held a job, as all unemployed metal benders were being conscripted by the city to help with the rebuilding efforts. Manual labor did not suit Shen.

The train arrived a bit behind schedules, so Shen hurriedly rushed from the train station down to the police HQ. Opening the main door, Shen nodded to the attendant at the front desk, and hurried to the back, not eager to keep the chief waiting. Striding up to Bei Fong's office door, Shen knocked.

"It's open." The chief replied from behind the closed door. As Shen walked into the room, the chief looked up from the idle morning paperwork she was doing. "Ah, Shen, just the man I wanted to see. Take a seat. Don't worry, you aren't in any trouble."

"So, what did you want to see me for chief?" Shen asked tentatively, trying to hide the edge of excitement in his voice.

"You've been here a half a year, Shen" the chief began, "and I think we both know that the rookie beat cop position doesn't suit you." Getting up to pace behind her desk, the chief of police explained further. "You aren't made of the same stuff as the rest of the beat cops. Your supervisor has explained this ,ugh, and I can see it by looking in your eyes as well, you have drive. Your smart, know how to handle risky situations, and your a better metal bender than some of the guys on my elite squad, if your supervisor's reports can be trusted. I see your skills as fitting in well as a part of the detective department, but not the normal department. I want to put you in with the advanced, undercover department. It has a high risk factor, but the rewards are worth it. Know now, that this may be your only chance for a promotion for your entire career, and you can take it or leave it. I'm going to give you the day off to look over the offer." She ended by sliding Shen a small stack of papers, assumably the forms and specifications for his promotion. "Be at the address on the front sheet, 7:00 tonight. Sharp. Give me your answer then. Dismissed kid."

Shen nodded, and got up, making to leave. "Wait, one more thing." The chief said, a small smirk playing on her lips, just as Shen made to leave the office. "You almost forgot your coupon to Narook's." Returning the smirk, Shen grabbed the coupon, and left the office.

o0o

Rather than returning to his extremely sub-par apartment, Shen opted instead to go to a cafe frequented by the cops, not far from the station. Walking through the doors to Ginseng's Jive, Shen held up his first finger, telling the waitress on stand by that he needed a table for one. He was led to a small booth near the window. "One ginseng, extra honey, please" Shen ordered with a small smile. The waitress hurried away to get Shen's tea. Looking at the address on the front of the papers, Shen noticed it was in the downtown warehouse district, 163 Bosco Blvd. not to far from the police station, low traffic at night, medium during the day, near the waterfront. Shen realised he was thinking as he would before a contract, and instead quickly started leafing through the papers.

"Advanced detective unit nomination" the top of the first main page read. It then gave a summary of how this job compared to his current one. Shen noted a few words: "higher risk, benefits, compensation." A higher risk would mean his job would be more interesting, and he could certainly use a pay increase. He saw it as a win win situation. As the waitress returned with his tea, Shen nodded his thanks, handing the waitress a few yuans for payment, and proceeded to flip to the next page. Woah. Salary: 35.00 yuans an hour. That was quite a step up from the 15 he made now. If the excitement the job was sure to hold wasn't enough to convince him, the pay most certainly was. Skimming through the last page, Shen came to the personal registration form.

Name: Shen LeMieux

Age: 22

Ethnicity: Mixed

Father ethnicity: South Western Earth Kingdom

Mother ethnicity: Southern Water Tribe

Eye color Blue

Hair color: Dark brown

Height: 5'-9"

Weight: 153lbs

Bending ability, list all that apply, sub-skills included: Earth, Metal, minor experience with lava.

Further inquiry will proceed if needed, welcome to the team.

With the forms looked through and filled out, Shen sat back and sipped on the tea that remained in his cup. Maybe the spirits really did reward those who tried to go about life the right way, either way, things were looking up for. Finishing his tea, Shen left the shop, and decided to take the long way home, as he did have some time to kill before seven o'clock tonight. Arriving back at his meagre apartment, Shen thought of what he should do.

"With this raise, I should be able to move out, find a better place. May as well start packing some things, anyway" Shen mumbled as he inserted the key to his abode, closing the door behind him. Grabbing the boxes he had used when he moved into the apartment, Shen started loading non essential items: extra sets of clothes, an old boomerang, some silverware sets (he rarely used these anyway), books, and the like. As Shen cleared out his wardrobe, he came to the last drawer. Opening the drawer, he frowned at the contents slightly. Gazing back at him were the empty sockets of his mask, on top of the neatly folded cloak and trench coat. He packed the former two in a smaller box, and marked it "Fragile, don't open.". Laying the trench coat on the bed, he examined the metal on the tails that made up the tail feathers for his former gliding apparatus. "I don't need that anymore, and it won't be too hard to remove.." Shen mused to himself as he metal bent the metallic feathers out of the coat. "May as well put them to good use." Bending the metal into one piece, taking care to make sure the feather weren't distinguishable anymore, he began to spread it into three sheets. One sheet, the biggest, he spread out in the main body area of the coat, and heated the edges, soldering it to the coat, and proceeding to to the same to the arms with the remaining metal. As Shen held up his coat, he was pleased with the result. The metal was hidden, and unrestrictive, but gave sufficient protection. Draping the coat on the sole chair that graced the combination kitchen, dining room, living space, and bedroom of his apartment, Shen started laying out a pair of jeans and a long sleeve black shirt as well. He didn't know what he was expected to wear, but he assumed as a detective it wouldn't be a normal cop uniform. He would wear his trench over the uniform on the way, but pack the extra set in his satchel and take it with him. Always good to be prepared. With about six hours left to kill, Shen decided a small nap wouldn't hurt anything, and laid down, excitement still buzzing in his stomach.

o0o

Shen woke up at 5:30, and stepped into his faulty shower for the second time that day, a good first impression would help, and cleanliness wouldn't hurt. Dressing in a spare uniform, throwing on his trench coat, and grabbing his satchel, he made sure his wallet and badge case were in his pockets, and set out the door.

He stopped by Narook's on his way down the street, and used his coupon to get some takeout, slurping the noodles as he walked to the waterfront storage district where he was supposed to meet Chief Bei Fong.

"Slurp- let's see here" Shen talked to himself, slurping his noodle, and earning strange looks from workers heading the opposite direction on their way home from their daily shifts "161, 162, ah here we go, 163 Bosco Blvd." Shen stopped in front of the smaller sized, what appeared to be, warehouse. Taking out his pocket watch, he noted the time: 6:57. Better early than late. No sooner than he had rapped on the main door once, it was pulled open by a woman looking to be in her late twenties.

"Whadaya want kid?" She damanded if Shen, giving him a scouring look

Slurping up the noodle her was in the process of eating, Shen replied "umm... I'm ah.. Shen? New detective. Chief Bei Fong asked me to meet her here?"

"Hmm, I expected you to look a bit more, I dunno, professional. Whatever, come on if I suppose." The woman led Shen I to the building, past the main desk where another person, a young man with tight cropped black hair and glasses shuffled papers and typed on a type writer. "That's Rillou, me and him are head of intelligence and information processing. I'm Lily, by the way."

"Pleased to meet you then, Lily." Shen replied, trying to be polite. Lily gave a short snort in reply. She led Shen to what looked to be an office and nodded to the door, motioning for him to go inside.

"Chief should be here in a bit." Lily informed him,and shut the door. Looking further into the office, he noticed it was a much bigger room than he expected. It had two desks, one empty, and one scattered with papers and personal items. The empty one was directly in Front of the door with a blank concrete wall behind it, while the other desk was situated on the far side of the room in a corner, an artificial waterfall with the water tribe insignia engraved in the wall behind it decorated one part of the wall behind the desk, while the other wall of the corner bore old propaganda posters supporting the south, back from the civil war. On the far side of the room opposite the desks, there was a workbench and what appeared to be a few training dummies and a punching bag, along with a large sofa and a small refrigerator.

"Hey there kid" Lin greeted Shen with a smirk, as she opened the door and entered. "I take it you accepted the offer then?"

Shen nodded and pulled the stack of papers from his satchel and handed them to the chief how could I not? It's almost too good to be true." Shen agreed, grinning.

"I'm glad you find it suitable," Lin replied with a smirk, "I'll get these papers from processing asap, I find it'd be better to let your new partner explain things to you, and show you the ropes. Have a good night." before Shen could ask questions, Lin exited the room, rubbing shoulders with the girl coming in.

"Oh!" The girl said, slightly surprised at seeing Shen "They told me my new partner was coming in, but they said he was a metal bender, not another water bender."

"I am a metal bender..." Shen started.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just assumed, you know,., the eyes?" The girl motioned up towards her bright cerulean eyes, then back at Shen's darker sapphire ones.

"Oh no, it's no problem, my moms water tribe." Shen explained, taking in the appearance of the girl before him. She looked to be about his age, give or take a year or so. A few inches shorter than him, she was undeniably water tribe with her black hair in traditional water tribe ponytail and side... thingies. Shen didn't really know the right word. What was striking about her though, was even though she was water tribe, her skin was extremely pale, making her eyes stand out even more. Her build was lean, but not unattractive in any way.

"You gonna stare at me some more, or shall we get started with the tour?" She jested at the new detective.

"oh, I'm so sorry" Shen apologised, blushing at the failure to rebuke his instinct to observe new people.

"Haha, I'm only joking. I'm Katsanna, by the way. You can call me Kat though, my full name is a mouthful, and Kat sounds better anyway." The girl , leading Shen out the door. "Okay, so that room there is our office, were the skill and info gathering division. Basically we're the sneaky spy people. I'm told your skills suit that?"

Shen nodded, trying to push thoughts of his past from his mind

"Good, can't wait to see them," Kat nodded with a smile, "back to the tour then" she led Shen over to another office entrance, across the main lounge area from their office. Shen could here what sounded like a sparring match going on. Lots of grunts. "This is Snifou and Zamron's office, they're the strength department. Basically when we nee to send someone in who spikes the need to be especially quiet or careful, they go in to bash some heads. Snifou's an earth bender, but he's a big softy, and Zamron's the best lightning rod you'll ever meet. Don't tell either of them I said that." Kat proceeded to point to the front area he came in from. "Up there is Rillou and Lily, they do intelligence and info processing. Basically, they put the Intel we get to good use. Our whole setup here is that we work as a team, all aspects of a larger force covered by our six, in elite form. When we find a lead, we go in and then the rest of the force or detectives back us up if we really need them. Most of the time we don't" she ended with a smirk. "Any questions?"

"No, not really. I suppose I'll figure most of it out when I actually do stuff" Shen replied

"That's the spirit. Our shifts take place at night most of the time, and end in the early morining, around four or five, depends what we're doing. With weekends off if we aren't doing a big raid, our job mostly consists of gathering Intel at bars and stuff. And when that's not happening, we're going undercover of infiltrating triads and the like. It's pretty fun, to be honest." Kat explained the finer details, walking Shen back to their office. "Tonight I gotta finish up some paperwork from the last case I did, and after that we'll head out. Feel free to train or crash in the couch or whatever. Oh, Bei Fong also mentioned that there's some scrap metal in our garage, that was the big back door in the lounge. You could use those to liven up your side of our space, or fiddle with it at the workbench. Just, occupy yourself until I'm done, I'll try to be quick, kay?"

"Yeah, I'll try not to break anything" Shen replied with a smirk, feeling better and better about this whole thing.

o0o

Authors note: so, how was it? Next chapter, Shen gets on the job, proper! Leave a review, and as always, have a great day guys, thanks for reading!


	3. A touch of Shen

Walking to where Kat had told him the garage was, Shen made his way across the warehouse common quarters that made up the non office portions of his new team's base. Opening the door to the garage, Shen looked around at the various vehicles in the room. A large military looking van, a few motorcycles, and a few personal satomobiles. In the back corner, Shen noted what he was looking for: scrap metal. To an average person, it looked to be useless junk and spare parts, but Shen saw what a painter did when confronted with a pallet and a blank canvas. Moving closer, Shen began to inspect the grade and types of metal. Some high grade steel, looking to be from tanks and other war instruments, bent and dented from the invasion no doubt. That would be handy. There was also quite a bit of what seemed to be a brass alloy, and then scraps of other random or low grade metals. Bending a good portion of the steel and the brass, as well as a bit of the lower grade scrap, into spheres, Shen made his way back to his and Kat's shared office. Once there, Shen put the brass and a half of the steel over at the workbench, and went back to the remaining material over at his desk. Looking at the blank wall behind his desk, Shen decided on what he would personalise his space with. He may not be the raptor anymore, but that doesn't mean he should forget his past so easily and readily. "Remember that past, and learn from it to better the future", his mothers voice echoed in his head. Bending the metal beside him to his will, Shen mounted the metal on the wall behind his desk into the shape of an eagle, it's wings encircling his chair and head peering over where he would sit. Satisfied with the result, Shen moved over to the workbench. Thinking about how best to use the remaining metal, Shen decided a new grappling system would be needed, as the one from his assassin days had been in the conversion to his armoured trench coat. Shen made two smaller and simpler versions of what the police force used, tipping the cables in brass points, the mounted them inside his coat sleeves. Shen looked up at the remaining chunk of brass alloy and a small amount of steel.

"Hey Kat?" Shen questioned his new teammate.

"Hmmm?" the girl answered, not looking up for his paperwork.

"Are there any regulations what i can use this scrap for?" Shen asked, a small smile creeping onto his face.

Looking up from her papers, Kat looked at Shen quizzically. "Umm, no, I don't believe so. Just so long at it isn't wasted I suppose. Why? What do you want to make?"

"Oh, you'll see in a few minutes," Shen replied, not even attempting to hide the grin that now claimed the lower half of the metal benders face. Again turning towards the metal on the work table, Shen began forming part of the brass into two long skinny tubes, one flaring out at the end. Shen then heated the metal and welded them together in a curving U joint. He repeated the process, leaving the flared part off the piece. He then welded a bit of steel tubing at the ends of the pieces, excluding the flared end. The last bit of steel was used to form a thick mouthpiece, like that of a trumpet, but bigger. Assembling the pieces, Shen held the newly formed trombone in front of his with much pride. As if sensing the immense happiness coming from her new partner, Kat looked up at the boy.

"What the..? Hoe did you do that? Well i know how, but how do you know how, like how do you know if it's made right?" The water bender questioned, astounded at the instrument Shen had made from what had been useless scrap an hour prior.

Braaaapppppp! came the sharp, yet mellow reply of the trombone, raised to Shen's lips, and perched on his Shoulders. "That's how." Shen replied.

"Well, that's... good. I suppose. I only have a few more things to finish up, but if you still wanna play that thing, go in the common area, jazz is one of my biggest weaknesses."

"I'll have to keep that in mind then" Shen teased, already heading for the door, trombone in hand.

o0o

Author's Note: Sorry about the extremely long hiatus guys! I swear I am! heres a smallish chapter for you to help start things rolling again, ive been extremely busy with schooling getting into full swing again, and lots of personal things happeneing. be sure to review, and as always, have a great day!


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